Method of recovering ozocerite



Nov. 8, 1938. H. R. DICKINSON METHOD OF RECOVERINC- OZOCERITE Fi ledOct. 16, 1954 Patented Nov. 8, 1938 UNITED S..T-A-TES PATENT YOF-FICE vr 7 72,136,286"; I .I

7 METHOD OF REC'OVER ING QZO CERITE Henry Randel Dickinson, GrandRapids, Mich.

Application October 16, 1934, SerialNo. 748,552

6 Claims.

This invention is .a method of separating ozocerite from its ore andassociated impurities, without requiring the use of either heat or sol--5 Heretofore, the most commonly practiced method of recoveringozoceritefrom its ore, as sociated'rock and other impurities has been tobring the raw materials into association with hot Water at a temperatureabove the melting point of the ore, in a trough or vat. The pureozocerite which separates fromthe rock and other undesirable impurities,being lighter than water, naturally floats to the top and is skimmed offof I the surface of the Water in any desired manner. The rest of thematerial is' then subjected to further soaking inv a digester, in whichseparation is supposed to take place in approximate-- ly three layers,consisting of the melted ozocerite at the top, the rock and heavierparticles at the bottom, and an intermediate layer consist- "ing of amixture of the two with water. vAfter the melted'material has beenskimmed off the top of the water, the heavier particles composing thelower layer are discarded, and the contents 26 0f the intermediate layerare "again subjected to the previously described treatment, along Withthe untreated material. The cost of this method is high and theeificiency thereof is very low, because the melted ozocerite clings verytenacious- 80 ly to the rock and other foreign materials which settleout during the process, resulting in a very high percentage of loss ofozocerite originally contained in the ore. Another method involves theuse of solvents, but this method is also objection- 35 'able because ofthe fire hazard involved in the use of highly volatile solvents, and isexpensive in that the proportion of recovery is lowas compared to thecost involved. One of the objects of the present invention is 4 to sotreat ozocerite ore and its associated impurities that commercialozocerite may be recovered by gravitational separation in cold water,advantage being taken of the'diiferences in spew cific gravity of theozocerite and its normally as- 45' sociatedimpurities, with respect tocold water.

A'furth'er object is to. obtain a maximum recovery of commercialozocerite from a given quantity of ozocerite ore. a

The invention will be hereinafter fully set forth 50. and particularlypointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing:-

Figure 1 is a side elevation illustrative of one form of apparatus withwhich the invention may be practiced. Figure 2 is'an enlargedlongitudinal sectional view of a portion of said apparatus In acopending application filed concurrently herewith, two 'forms ofapparatus are disclosed, each capable of carrying out the method hereinclaimed. Inasmuch as the present invention is notlimited to anyparticularapparatus, it is con- 5. sidered suiiicient for purposes'ofillustration here, to describe the invention with respect to one oftheforms of apparatus above referred to.

Referring'to the drawing, I0 designates a storage, bin; which may be ofany desired form or 10 construction, the form shown for purposes ofillustration having an automatic feeder conventionally illustrated atll. 'Located adjacent to said bin, and in a lower plane is a grinding ork H pulverizing machine P, which may be of any 15' well-known orpreferred type, provided that it is capable of grinding orpulverizing'ozocerite oreytogether with its associated rock and otherundesirable'impurities. In the drawing, for purposes of illustration andwithout intentto limit 20 the invention, a pulverizing mill of thehammer type is' shown, being provided with the usual pulverizing chamber12, which issuppliedfrom a hopper l3, in communication with the bin Ill.The grindingor pulverizing function is efiected in awell-known manner bymeans of rotating pivotally supported hammers ll, acting againstseparated grids l5, the material as it is pulverized falls through thespaces between the grids into a trough l6. c a r The trough I6communicates with a conduit ll, having a downturned discharge end [8,extending'into a gravitational separation tank T. A pipe 20 connectedwith a. water supply (not shown), under any desired pressure, is so 10-cated as to project a stream of water across said trough, and into andthrough the conduit d1. The pressure however, should be sufficient tocause said stream to entrain and .carry the pulverized material with it,and'to set up a certain 4 amount of turbulence during the travel of themixture through the conduit. The pulverizing may beefiected while thematerialis dry, but if desired watermay be mixed with the raw materialbefore grinding, by means of a pipe 2|, connected with a suitable sourceof supply, (not shown). The tank may be initially supplied with waterthrough branch pipe '22, and all of said water pipes are provided withsuitable controlling valves I9, as shown. 5

Any desired number of tanks T may be employed, a single series of suchtanks being shown for purposes of illustration. Inasmuch as all of thesetanks are of similar construction, a description of one will suiiice forall. Each tank 55.

T may be of any desired shape and of any desired or suitable material,each one being provided at its bottom with an outlet 23, connected witha discharge pipe 24, leading upwardly therefrom, and having a downturneddischarge end 25 projected into the next adjacent lower tank. Thedischarge pipe is controlled by a suitable valve 26, and the tank isprovided at its bottom with a trap 21, also controlled by a suitablevalve, and through which the tank may be flushed for removal of sludgeand other accumulations which might tends to interfere with theoperation of the apparatus. The discharge end of the conduit 11, and thedischarge ends of the respective pipes 24 are all located below thenormal water level within the tanks into which they respectivelydischarge.

Each tank is also provided with an overflow.

opening 28, at a level to permit the floating off of ozocerite as itaccumulates on toptof-the Water in the tank, said opening beingconnected with a conduit 29, which in turn discharges into a settling.tank 30. The bottom of the tank 30 is connected with the top of asimilar tank soa, by 'meanso-f a pipe 31.

It will be observed that each tank T is in a lower plane thanthe nextpreceding tank, so that the water and pulverized materials will floatfrom one tank to another 'by gravity, due to the differences inelevation of the respective tanks. All of the tanks T are initiallyfilled with cold water by means of pipe 22, the water flowing from onetankto another until the desired water level is obtained in all of thetanks, after which the supply ofwater necessary to support the requiredflow depends upon that which is delivered by the pipe 20, plus thatfurnished by the pipe 2|, if the latter is employed. In any event, thevolume and velocity of flow of water through conduit I! and thesuccessive pipes 24 are so controlled that each tank T con tains a bodyof water of approximately con- .stant dep-thf The discharge pipe 24 ofthe last tank T is connected with the waste pipe 32 into which thetailings are discharged. The discharge pipe of the last settling tank30a leads to a suitable place of storage (not shown), but this lastvtank may be omitted if desired.

In practice, after the tanks T have all been initially filled with coldWater, the ozocerite ore with its mixed rock and other associatedimpurities are fed to the pulverizer or mill P,and the material aspulverized is deposited into: the trough l6, and is flushed out of thetrough and into the conduit I! by means of the stream of water deliveredfrom pipe 2! The force of the stream of water imparts. a certainturbulence to the mixture of water and. pulverized material duringpassage through said conduit l1, so that there is an initial separationof the fine particles of ozocerite from the fine but heavier particlesof rock and other impurities, dueto the agitation of the mass before itreaches the first.

tank T. As the mixture of water and pulverized materials is deliveredinto the first tank T, the pulverized particles are deposited into thewater below the surface thereof, so that a gravitational separationimmediately commences, due. to the rise to the surface of the lighterozocerite particles and the settling of the heavier particles, thelatter normally carrying with it ozocerite particles which cling .to theheavier impurities- The. ozocerite particlesxwhichrise to the surface ofthe Water are floated ofiinto the conduit 29. while the heavierparticles are. slowly settling to the bottom of the tank. Such heavierparticles as ultimately reach the bottom of the tank are then carried bythe force of the water flow through conduit 24, and are delivered intothe next tank T, the passage of the mass through the conduit beingaccompanied by a certain amount of turbulence or agitation which willeffect a further separation before the material is discharged from saidconduit. The pure ozocerite which is fioated off through the conduit 29is delivered to the first settling tank 30, where the last traces ofentrained dirt and other impurities are given a chance to settle to thebottom, and the settling operation will be repeated in tank 30a. Thematerial which settles in each tank T is transferred to the next lowertank to undergo further separation, the above described process beingrepeated in each tank until the tailings are discharged from the lasttank of the series.

The advantages of the invention will be readily understood by thoseskilled in the art to which it belongs. For instance, it will be readilyunderstood that by pulverizing or grinding the ozocerite ore, rock andother associated impurities, all tendency of the ozocerite to cling tothe rock and other impurities, as it does while in a melted state underthe hot water process above described, is entirely eliminated, and thegreat cost of maintaining an adequate supply of hot water, at thetemperature necessary to heat the materials to the melting point is doneaway with. A further advantage is that a great increase in theefficiency of recovery of ozocerite is obtained at an infinitely smallercost than by other knownmethods. It is to be understood that when wateris referred to in the specification and claims, naturally cold orunheated water is meant.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention, and described anoperative manner of practicing the same, although without attemptifngtoset forth all of the forms of apparatus which may be used, or, all ofthe forms. of its use, what is claimed is:--

l. A method of separating ozocerite from its ore and associatedimpurities comprising providing a body ofwater in a normally fixedlocation, introducing a continuously flowing stream of water andentrained ozocerite material into said/body of water at a submergedposition and thereby causing the lighter ozocerite particles to floatupwardly through the water to the surface thereof by reason of theirnatural buoyancy, and simultaneously causing the heavier particles to.gravitate to the bottom of the body of water, creating a normallydownward movement of the water by continuously withdrawing said heavierparticles by entraining them in a stream of water gravitationallywithdrawing at a position lower than that at which the incoming streamis introduced, and so relatively proportioning the volumes of theinflowing and outfiowing streams as to maintain thebody of water at apredetermined depth.

2. A method of separating ozocerite from its ore and associatedimpurities comprising providing a body of water in a normally fixedlocation, introducing a continuously flowing stream of water andentrained ozocerite material into said body of water at a submergedposition and thereby causing the lighter-ozocerite particles to floatupwardly through the water to the surface.

thereofby reason of their natural buoyancy, and

simultaneously causing the heavier particles to.

gravitate to the bottom of the body of water, creating a normallydownward movement of the water by gravitationally discharging acontinuous stream of water from said body of water at a positionadjacent the bottom thereof, and discharging the withdrawn stream at aposition above the plane of withdrawal and s0 relatively proportioningthe volumes of the inflowing and outfiowing streams as to maintain thebody of water at a predetermined depth, removing the floating particlesfrom the surface of the body of water, and utilizing the hydrostaticforce of the moving water of the outgoing stream to entrain and removethe heavier particles which have previously settled to the bottom ofsaid body of water.

3. A method of separating ozocerite from its ore and associatedimpurities comprising providing a continuously flowing stream of waterand entrained pulverized ozocerite material, effecting an initialpartial mechanical separation of the wax from the rest of the pulverizedmaterial by causing the said stream of water and entrained materials totravel in a turbulent manner, introducing the stream of water andentrained ozocerite material into said body of water at a submergedposition and thereby causing the lighter ozocerite particles to floatupwardly through the water to the surface thereof by reason of theirnatural buoyancy, and also to cause the heavier particles to gravitateto the bottom of the body of water, creating a normally downwardmovement of the water by continuously Withdrawing said heavier particlesby entraining them in a stream of water gravitationally dis' chargedfrom said body of water, at a position lower than that at which theincoming stream is introduced, and so relatively proportioning thevolumes of the inflowing and outflowing streams as to maintain the bodyof water at a predetermined depth, and removing the wax particles bydrawing off the surface water and the particles floating thereon.

4. A method of separating ozocerite from its ore and associatedimpurities comprising pulverizing ozocerite material and depositing thepulverized material into a stream of water, applying sufiicient pressureto said stream to impart turbulence thereto so as to effect an initialseparation of the wax from the pulverized material, providing a body ofwater in a normally fixed location, introducing said stream of water andentrained ozocerite material into said body of water at a submergedposition and thereby causing the lighter ozocerite particles to floatupwardly through the water to the surface thereof by reason of theirnatural buoyancy, and also to cause the heavier particles to gravitateto the bottom of the body of water, creating a normally downwardmovement of the water by gravitationally discharging a continuous streamof water from said body of water at a position lower than that at whichthe incoming stream is introduced and discharging the withdrawn streamat a position above the plane of withdrawal, and thereby causing thenatural hydrostatic force applied to the withdrawn stream to entrainsaid heavier particles and remove them from said body of water, and sorelatively proportioning the volumes of the inflowing and outflowingstreams as to maintain the body of water at a predetermined depth.

5.'A method of recovering ozocerite from its ore and associatedmaterial, comprising subjecting pulverized ozocerite ore to a pluralityof gravitational separations each consisting of depositing a stream ofwater and entrained pulverized material into a body of water below thesurface thereof so as to cause the light wax particles to float upwardlythrough the water to the surface thereof by reason of their inherentbuoyancy and also to cause the heavier constituents to fall to thebottom of said body of water, collecting the wax which floats on thesurface by drawing off the surface water and the wax constituentsfloating thereon, causing a stream of water to flow by gravity from thebottom of each body of water except the last and to be introduced intothe next body of water at a position below the surface thereof, buthigher than the level at which it is withdrawn, and causing thehydrostatic force applied to said outgoing stream to entrain and conveythe heavier particles from the bottom of each body of water to the nextsuccessive body of water so that the same will be deposited in thesubsequent body of water below the surface thereof at a position toeffect a further gravitational separation of the unseparatedconstituents removed from the preceding body of water.

6. A method of recovering ozocerite from its ore and associatedimpurities comprising providing a plurality of bodies of water each in anormally fixed location, supplying said first body of water by means ofa continuously flowing stream of water carrying entrained ozoceritematerial, and introducing the same into the first body of water at asubmerged position and thereby causing the lighter ozocerite particlesto float upwardly through the water to the surface thereof by reason oftheir inherent buoyancy, and

also to cause the heavier particles to gravitate to the bottom of saidfirst body of water, creating a normally downward movement of the waterof the first body of water by gravitationally discharging a continuousstream at a position lower than that in which the incoming stream isintroduced, and discharging it at a position higher than the position ofwithdrawal, so relatively next successive body of water at a positionbelow:

the surface thereof so as to effect a further similar gravitationalseparation, and removing the floating particles from the surfaces of therespective bodies of water by causing the surface water to overflowtherefrom.

HENRY RANDEL DICKINSON.

